Protecting Him Alternate POV
by twiXlite
Summary: One-shot featuring an alternate POV from the story Protecting Him.


**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM TWILIGHT. THEY ALL BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER. I'M JUST MANIPULATING THEM TO DO MY BIDDING!**

**This one-shot will be comprised of a couple of different scenes, some that were and some that weren't featured in the main story. Hopefully, it will give a better insight to the other goings on in the other characters lives and minds.**

_**Carlisle**_

I couldn't believe what was happening. I had spent the last seventeen years trying to protect my son from the dangers that would face him in the world of business and yet now, everything that I had done, everything that I had worked for was in jeopardy.

I couldn't lose him. Not my son.

Not Edward.

He was too precious to his mother and myself to lose. He was a gift. _Our_ gift and he was not one I was going to throw away lightly, or ever, come to think of it.

He had been in danger for god knows how long, the person threatening him hadn't given us a time frame from when he started watching Edward. Nor had he given us a reason, a ransom, anything that may give us some insight as to _why_ he was doing all of this to torment us. It all seemed to be just a sick game to him. Nothing more.

Sitting at my desk in my office at home, I didn't have a clue what to do. I couldn't concentrate on anything at the office so I had in a way, sent myself home. It's not like I needed the paycheck anyway, and I felt a lot better knowing that Edward was just down the hall from me. Being away from him at the moment just set me on edge. I know I was going overprotective 'Papa Bear' but he was my only child and I think I was entitled to be a little overbearingly protective when he was put in danger.

As I rang my hands through my hair, the phone on my desk started to ring. I sighed and picked it up.

"Carlisle Cullen." I answered it, my voice exasperated and breathy with stress.

"_Well well well, that's not a nice way to answer the phone."_ The leering, slimy voice that had been threatening my son for the last month came through the phone.

"What the hell do you want?" I seethed through my teeth.

"_Oooh, touchy, touchy."_ I heard the amusement in his tone. He was in control of this entire situation and he knew it. _"I wouldn't use that tone if I were you."_

As he spoke, the fax machine that was nestled underneath my desk beeped, indicating that something was being sent through. I knew exactly what it was, and I knew that it was being sent through purely to torment me.

I picked it up and looked on helplessly at the pictures of my seventeen year old son, sleeping soundly in his bedroom. I couldn't help the tear that came to my eye as I looked at the picture. I knew that there was nothing I could do to protect him. I had guys staked out all over the mansion grounds, inside and outside. It was beginning to look hopeless.

"_I see that you've received the pictures from last night._" He sneered through the phone. "_Now, isn't it a shame that you can't protect him, even when he's sleeping. I mean, as a father that's got to be such a blow._" I could hear the fake sympathy in his voice.

"What do you want?" I asked him again, sitting down and running my hands through my hair again, throwing the photograph on the table. "Just tell me. Whatever you want, you can have it."

"_Oh, believe me."_ He chuckled. "_What I want, is in those pictures. And I _will_ have it. Sooner or later, I'm going to make my move. And nobody will be able to stop me._" _I think I'm having a heart attack_. I couldn't really breathe as that thought passed through my head. He was going to hurt my son. _"Oh, we don't like that, do we, Daddy? Well, there's really nothing you can do about it. You've already proven that your security team isn't up to the challenge of protecting the one and only son of the great Carlisle Cullen. You would have thought that you could afford the best, but I guess not."_

"What. Do. You. Want?" I asked again through gritted teeth, hating the fact that I was at the mercy of this psychopath.

"_Your son."_ Was the only answer I got before he hung up and I knew that this little game of his had to end soon. And on my terms. Not his.

I had to do the one thing that would kill Esme and it was going to break my heart, but I knew that I had to do it. I had no other choice.

***

Sending Edward away had been the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Having to say goodbye to your child must be one of the hardest things that a parent can do. Nothing compares to not having any knowledge of whether or not your child is safe or not. It nearly killed me to watch him get in that car, knowing that he was going somewhere I could not follow.

We didn't know how long we were going to be separated and we didn't know if this plan would even work. It could all be in vain and we wouldn't know until it was too late. With those thoughts, I almost put a stop to the whole thing, yet I knew that if I did, Edward's life would be forfeit. Some chance at a normal life had to be better than no chance at all.

***

Esme and I had tried extremely hard to get into a normal routine, but because most of our daily routine had come to focus around Edward and his needs, we found it incredibly excrutiating to do so.

"I miss him so much, Carlisle." Esme sniffled one morning as I found her standing in the doorway to Edward's bedroom, gazing inside.

"I know, darling." I sighed, rubbing her arms gently as I stepped up behind her. "I miss him, too."

"I want him back." She said sadly but forcefully. She was protective of her only son, just as a mother should be and when it came to him, she would never back down. "I want him back in my arms. I want to hold him and never let him go."

"I know, love, I know." I kissed her shoulder gently. "I want the same thing."

"So why can't I have him back?" She almost cried, turning around and burying her head into my chest as I wrapped my arms around him. "All I want is my baby back."

"I know, darling, I know." I whispered, softly against her hair. "We're trying to get him back. We're trying so hard to make it safe for him again."

"I know you are, darling." She looked up at me, tears streaming down her cheeks. "But I just …… I can't stand to think of him in any kind of danger. He's my baby and it's my job to protect him. I just … I want to feel him in my arms again. I want him here, where I know where he is, what's going on and I know that he's safe. I just want to hold him close to me, and know that he's okay."

I let her sob and let her feelings out onto my shirt. I didn't care that it was soon going to be covered in make-up. I didn't care that I would have to change it before the meeting I had to attend this afternoon. All that mattered was that my wife needed my love, care and support and reassurance that she needed and that was what I was here to give.

"It'll be okay, love." I whispered, running my fingers through her hair gently. "We'll get him safe and then we'll get him back."

"You promise?" She looked up at me, her green eyes wide and glistening. The bright green eyes that Edward had inherited from her along with her oddly coloured reddish brown hair. Our son looked so much like my wife it was incredible. Every single time I looked at her, I saw him and it was painful, because it reminded me of how much I had let my son down.

In essence, I had failed him.

It was my job to keep him safe and I had failed him.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes before she looked up at me. "You best be going." She whispered gently, rubbing my shoulders gently. "You don't want to be late for your meeting."

"I don't want to leave you like this." I said softly, pressing my lips to hers.

"I'll be fine, darling." She took my face in her hands. "You need to keep the business going. We can't let the media even have an inkling that there's something wrong. We need to keep up the image that Edward is safe and we know where he is. That there's nothing wrong. If you stop tending to the company, then they're going to know that something's wrong. We can't let that happen."

I knew she was right. But I just didn't want to think of doing anything other than looking for this obsessed person that was threatening my son. I would find them and when I did, they would pay for the pain he was causing my family.

"Alright." I kissed her forehead gently. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Okay." She whispered, leaning into my kiss. "I love you."

"As I love you." I whispered against her hair before walking away and down towards our bedroom to change my shirt quickly.

As I arrived at the main offices to Cullen Inc. I looked up and wondered for the first time 'is it all worth it?' Something told me, for the first time in twenty years, that no it wasn't.

As I made it up to my office on the top floor, I gazed around and looked at the different photographs of Esme and Edward that I had lining the cabinets.

I walked over to one of them and picked it up, running my fingers down it gently. It was of Esme and I. We were both beaming at the camera and Esme was standing slightly to the side, showing off the enormous bump that proved she was pregnant with my unborn child.

Edward.

I remember how happy we were at that point in our lives. The company was just becoming regonised and its popularity, interest and profit. We had our beautiful baby on the way. Nothing could bring us down.

Looking at the photograph, I still couldn't believe how lucky I was to be blessed with a successful business, a beautiful wife and a gorgeous, wondrous son. I was one of the luckiest men in the world. And I knew it. I still thanked the lord every single day. I knew that I was lucky to have all this. I knew it back then and I knew it now. There was nothing else that mattered to me than the safety of my family.

And I was failing them.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost one o'clock in the afternoon. It was nearly time for the meeting I had come in for at one thirty.

The buzzer on my desk indicated that my secretary, Sadie had a call for me.

"Yes?" I asked, pushing down on the buzzer.

"There's a call for you on line one." Her chirpy voice called through the intercom. She was too happy. But thankfully, unlike most of the other women in this place, she didn't try it on with me. Even though they all knew I was happily married with a son, they always tried it on.

"Put it through." I sighed, sitting down in my chair. As the phone rang I picked it up and rubbed my eyes with my thumb and fingers. "Hello? Carlisle Cullen speaking."

"Dad?" The velvety sound of my son's voice floated through the earpiece and I had never been so happy as to hear anything in my life. But then again, why would be calling? Is there something wrong with him?

"Edward? How are you? Are you okay?" I winced slightly at the sound of my own worry coming through. I didn't want to give him any reason to feel guilty.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm fine." I could hear the smile in his voice. He knew that I would be worrying about him. I would have thought that recently it would be justified. "I, um, I just have a bit of a problem at the moment." _I knew it._

"_A bit of a problem."_ I heard another, slightly muffled voice on the other end, clearing listening to the conversation. I immediately straightened in my chair, worried for my son's safety.

"Who was that Edward?" I could hear my own fear coming through in my tone.

"Just one of my friends, Dad." I heard a grunt come from the other end and I surmised that someone had received a punch from my son. "Don't worry, Dad. They know."

"_How_ do they know, Edward?" I inwardly cursed myself, hearing my own anger coming through. I didn't want to get angry with him. In some way I _couldn't_ get angry with him. I wasn't there. I didn't know the circumstances that had led him to tell his friends who he really was. I had only gotten angry with Edward twice before in his young life and I didn't want now to turn into the third. I took a deep breath and tried to reign in my anger.

"They only know because they spend so much time with me and they kind of……worked it out." Kids were smart these days. It was possible that they had been able to work it out. But then again, my son had always been an impeccable liar, so I didn't really know how to trust that was the truth. I didn't want to call him out on it, so I didn't say anything. "You know, dates and descriptions and stuff. Then they cornered me about it and I knew that I couldn't lie to them, because they'd call me out on it." I sighed, and pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. Esme had always laughed about the fact that Edward and I had the same habits. And that was something he had picked up from me. What was going to happen now that people knew. Would it put him, or them, in danger? Was it worth doing any of this in the first place? "I know what you're thinking, Dad." _Do you?_ "That everything was for nothing if people knew." _Okay, yes you do._ "But honestly, I'm kind of glad that they know. I hated keeping things from them. Now it's like, I can be me and not have to worry about letting anything slip. And you know what, Dad? They don't care that I'm Edward Cullen. It doesn't matter to them."

"I guess you're right." I sighed, resigned to his decision. It wasn't like I could change anything from where I was, "I wouldn't want you to have to keep things from your friends." I sat back down in my chair, leaning back into the leather. "So what's this problem that you said about?"

"Well," I could hear him biting his lips and thought the worst. He never bit on his lip unless it was a real problem that he had. I couldn't remember the last time he had.

I was on immediate red alert. "He hasn't found you, has he?" I cursed inwardly at the fact that I sounded panicked. I was supposed to be the strong one in the family. I was supposed to be the one that Edward looked up to and derived his strength from. And here I was sounding panicked and scared. "He's not discovered where you are, has he?"

"No, Dad. Nothing like that." I could tell that there was something he wasn't telling me. His tone was reserved and guarded and I could tell when he was hiding something. I think that that just came from being his father.

"Then what is it, Edward?" I got up out of my chair and started walking slowly back and forth across my office, trying to stay calm.

"Okay, Dad, first stop pacing and sit back down." I stopped and my jaw dropped slightly. _How did he know what I was doing?_. "I'm your son remember? I do know what you're like when you're stressed." He had me there. He had witnessed me stressed out more times that I would like to admit. "Now sit down." I laughed at the fact that my son was ordering me about on the phone. I sat down and sighed gently, not loud enough so that he could hear over the phone.

"What's going on, Edward?" Why was he calling at this time in the afternoon? He should be at school, not sitting on the phone to me. "You wouldn't be calling at one o'clock in the afternoon, when you're supposed to be in school, if it wasn't important."

"You're right, Dad." He sighed over the phone and my worry increased slightly. So there _was_ something wrong. "It's Victoria."

"Yes." I rubbed my eyes again. I should have known that he would get wind of that story sooner or later. It was bound to reach his ears. "We're going all we can to put a stop to that story, but you know how the media is. They're lapping it up. It's going to be hard to get under control."

"That's not what I meant, Dad." He sighed again, sounding more and more upset than before. "I mean, we know it's not true. She knows its not true – well, I'm starting to question that at the moment – anyway. What everyone else thinks doesn't really matter to me. But no, the reason I'm calling is because she's here. In Forks."

"What on earth is she doing there?"

"I have no idea, Dad." I could hear him pinching the bridge of my nose just as I tended to do when I was stressed. Any doubts that he was my son? All you have to do is watch the both of us when we're stressed out. "All we know is that she's got a cousin that lives here. But as for why she'd visit here instead of flying her out to Chicago is beyond me. I was hoping that you'd be able to tell me. Or at least help me in dealing with the situation."

"I really don't know Edward." I really didn't know what to do. She could blow everything we'd worked for and all of our planning, tears and anger would be for nothing. I couldn't let that happen. "I didn't know that she had left the city until you mentioned her a moment ago." I opened a drawer next to me, searching for what I thought could get him and us out of this mess. I grinned as I picked out the sheet of information that I knew would give us that exact opportunity. "As for a solution I might have one. I know that there's a charity event happening in two evenings time. I could always hint to her parents that there's the son of a very wealthy family I know that is interested in her. You know how she is with attention. She craves it."

"That could work." He sounded detached, as though he was thinking about what I had just said.

"_But Edward_," I heard a female voice on the other end, causing my over protective father instincts to kick in again. "Didn't _you say that she's totally obsessed with you. I mean, wouldn't she blow someone else off if she wants to keep up the story that she's dating you?_"

"No, young lady, you misunderstand Victoria." I tried to explain and I heard Edward suck in a sharp breath at my words. Apparently I had made a major faux pax at what I'd just said.

"Rosalie." I heard the warning in Edward's tone. "He only called you "young lady" because he doesn't know your name."

"Rosalie?" I repeated thinking over the name. "That's a very pretty name."

"Thank you, sir." I could hear the smile on the girls face and I hoped I'd saved my son from a bitching later on.

"Please, call me Carlisle." I chuckled, twisting in the chair and looking at the photograph of myself and Esme, pregnant with my son. "Now how many of you am I actually talking to here, because I know now that I'm on speakerphone."

"Six, Dad." I could hear the smirk on Edward's face. _Smug little sod_.

"Six?" I was really talking to six friends of my sons? Well, he had always been a social little thing. "And they are." Each of them introduced themselves to me. They were all incedibly polite and I was proud of my son for not falling in with the wrong crowd. "Hello to you all."

"Um, Dad, getting a little off topic here." I was and I chuckled.

"Right. As I was saying. Victoria is essentially a socialite, which means that she will do anything for attention. Even meeting up with another boy when she is meant to be with someone else. It's just how they are." I was met with silence on the other end for a moment and I could imagine them thinking it over. At least, I hoped they were.

"So you could call Victoria's parents and hint to them that there's someone interested in meeting Victoria?" Edward asked, his voice hopeful.

"Yes," I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "That should bring her back here. She would have to leave tomorrow so that should work out perfectly."

"Okay." He sighed, again sounding slightly detached and I knew that he was thinking things over. I found myself working out the probability that this would actually work. I just hoped that it would. "Thank you Dad."

"No problem, son." I grinned. This was the only contact I had had with my son for the last few weeks and I didn't want to cut the connection we had at the moment. I knew that one of us had to, and I knew that it would have to be me. He was my son and I had to be strong for him, even though it was killing me inside to do so. "I miss you, son. Stay safe." _I _will_ get you back._ I promised him silently.

"I will, Dad. I miss you too." I sighed. "Give my love to Mom."

As I hung up the phone I couldn't help but feel empty. I relished the time when I could talk to him, but I hated when I had to hang up. It only served to remind me that I was powerless in this situation.

There was a knock on my office door, pulling me out of my reverie. Placing the photograph of myself and Esme, swollen with my child back on the desk I called them in to find out that I was required down in the conference room. I sighed heavily and pushed myself off of the chair and made my way down to the damned meeting that was drawing me away from the task of making my child safe again.

***

It had been almost three months since I had sent Edward away and we were no closer to finding the threat towards him than we had been before we sent him away. I was getting antsy about the lack of information we had gathered and Esme could tell. I had tried to keep her away from entire situation as much as I could, but my wife, like my son had an incredible aptitude for reading people and judging whether or not something was wrong.

"Carlisle." I looked up to see her standing there in the doorway, looking at me, a sad expression on her face. "What are you doing in here?"

She moved towards me, sitting down next to me. I hadn't even realised that I had been making my way into Edward's room before I was sitting on his bed, holding the teddy bear that Esme had made for him when she was expecting him. He had kept it all these years and it had been on the seat that lined underneath the enormous bay window that spread across the entire wall of his room.

Looking around I saw things about my son that I missed the most. He was an incredible photographer and many of his photographs lined the walls of our home. Many people that visited our home wanted to know where they could purchase one of the photographs we had on the walls, and how much they cost. They were all surprised when we told them that it was in fact our son that had taken the photos, not a professional. It was my guess that if he didn't have to take over the responsibility of the company after my time was up, there was a very good chance that he would have taken up photography as a career. It was a passion of his.

I stood up and made my way into the music room that was linked onto his bedroom. I leaned on the doorframe and gazed at the black baby grand piano that stood proudly in the centre of the room. Music was another passion of Edward's and he was forever tinkling and doodling with different pieces, creating his own or playing incredible pieces. Esme and I loved to hear him play and had a full sized grand piano downstairs and when he played that one, either a finished piece of his own, or a piece he had just finished learning, the music would echo throughout the whole house. Hearing Edward play relaxed both his mother and I after a long day at work, and it seemed to be that he always knew when we needed to hear something soothing.

He was a very creative child.

Esme walked up behind me and rested her chin on my shoulder, wrapping her eyes around my waist.

"I miss him so much." She whispered into my shoulder and I felt a slight damp patch appear where her head was resting.

"As do I, my love." I whispered back, pulling her around to stand in front of me. "What I wouldn't give to hear him play again. Just once more."

"I know." She sniffed, leaning her head back on my chest.

"I _will_ get him back, my love." I promised her, kissing the top of her head gently. "I promise you that."

"But how can you promise me that, Carlisle?" She pulled away from me, turning to face me, her eyes red and tears falling freely down her cheeks. "It's been three months and he's no safer than he was when he was when he was here." She stood there in front of me, every bit the lost mother. "I want my baby back and who knows when I'll be able to hold him again. We don't know what's going on and there's no way for us to find out without possibly alerting this psycho who's after him to where he is. I hate that my baby is in trouble and we can't do anything about it."

"I know, love. I know." I wrapped my arms around my sobbing, almost hysterical wife. "I know that you don't believe me right now, but I _will_ get him back. I will. I promise you that."

"I know you will." She whispered, pressing a kiss to my jaw. "I just …… I just miss him so much. I just want my baby back in my arms."

"I know you do, my love." I rested my cheek on the top of her head as she sobbed silently into my chest. "I miss him more than I could ever tell you. I just want him back. I want to be able to hold him close and make him safe again. I want him to know that he's always protected and safe, but at the moment I can't. I can't do that and it breaks my heart to know that he's on his own, facing whatever he is and we can't go through any of that with him."

We stood there for a few more minutes, holding each other gently. I ran my fingers through her hair as she cried quietly into my chest. I hated seeing her like this and I knew that the only way to turn her back into my loving, carefree wife again was to bring Edward back to her safe and sound. Something I knew would take time and I didn't know how much longer either of us could take not knowing if Edward was okay.

My phone started ringing in my pocket and I pulled back from Esme slightly, pulling it out of my pocket. I didn't bother looking at the Caller ID before flipping it open and answering it.

"Carlisle Cullen." I answered, my tone flat and uninterested.

"Carlisle?" It was Jason and he sounded panicked and scared.

"Jason?" Esme pulled back, looking up at me, her eyes wide with fear and …… hope? "What's happened?"

"He found Edward." His words sent a chill down my spine and Esme must have heard because her hands flew up to her mouth and a fresh wave of tears flooded down her face.

"What happened?" I asked again, holding her close to me again, a wave of tears making their way down my own cheeks. "Jason? What's happened to my son?"

"He found and attacked him." Jason sounded distraught and I could hear a siren going off in the distance. "If it wasn't for his friends then I don't know ……"

It took all of my willpower not to scream and shout at him for details but I knew that I couldn't. I knew that I had to be calm and collected for my wife and incidentally my son. The both of them needed me to be strong and I was sure as hell going to be strong for my family.

"We're going to be on the next plane out to Seattle and we'll be in Forks in about eight hours." I told him and he told me that he'd send a car to pick us up.

"Carlisle?" Esme whispered in a tiny voice, looking up at me through her thick eyelashes. "What's happened?"

"He found him." I held her close to me as an enormous cry of despair ripped from my wife's chest.

"What happened?" She almost screamed at me. "What happened, Carlisle?!" She pushed herself away from me, making her way towards the piano and leaning her hands on it. "So much for protecting him! We sent him away and he found him! We should have kept him here! We should never have sent him away! He's our baby and it's our job to protect him! And what do you do?! You send him away!"

She was becoming hysterical and I couldn't blame her. I was close to breaking down myself.

"Love?" I moved towards her slowly as she sobbed in front of me. "Esme? If we had kept him here he would have been attacked long before now."

"I know, but……" She trailed off, succumbing to her sobs and dropping to her knees.

I was by her side instantly, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her close to me. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and flipped it open, pressing speed dial 6 and putting it to my ear. "Hello? Yeah. I need the company jet ready. Now." I put the phone away and held my wife, standing up slowly. "Esme, love. The jet is going to be ready in a few minutes and ready for us. We're going to get our little boy."

"Okay." She nodded slowly, leaning into me and we walked out of Edward's room and down towards the garage where the car waiting to take us towards the jet was kept.

Climbing into the car, I held my sobbing wife close to me, trying hard not to break down myself. I had to be strong for her and for Edward. They were both depending on me to be strong.

_Hang on, my son._ I thought as a single tear made its way down my cheek. _We're coming my boy._

**That's Carlisle's POV so far.**

**I'm going to add more to it soon but I'm not sure if I'll just add to this chapter or make an entirely new one. I don't know, I haven't got that far yet. There are a couple more scenes that I want to put in here in CPOV but it's just putting them into words on the screen. It's harder than it looks.**

**Hope you liked it :D**

**There's more to come so keep checking.**


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